Anton Diaz

Finally, the beloved culinary institution Le Cordon Bleu (the oldest culinary school founded in 1895) is now in Manila in partnership with Ateneo de Manila University (founded in 1859 by the Society of Jesus). The partnership synergizes the global expertise of Le Cordon Bleu in cuisine, gastronomy and hospitality with Ateneo’s core foundation in liberal arts, management and entrepreneurship education.

The 4-year undergraduate Bachelor of Science in Restaurant Management (B.S. RENT) program is now open for enrollment. When you graduate, you get an Ateneo B.S. RENT Diploma and, at the same time, a Diploma from Le Cordon Bleu. You have to budget ₱1.6M for the tuition fee for the 4-year course.

Here’s all you need to know about the Le Cordon Blue x Ateneo de Manila founding program.

Bachelor of Science in Restaurant EntrepreneurshipDuration: 4 years with full intersessionsLanguage: English/FilipinoIntake: AugustUnits: 175 units, roughly 6-7 subjects per semester, with 2-3 subjects and practicum during the intersessionAdmission Requirements: SHS STRAND: Accountancy and Business Management (recommended)

I must be honest. There would be two types of theater goers after watching the award-winning Angels in America by American playwright Tony Kushner: the one who would rave about the theatrical perfection of this groundbreaking masterpiece, and the one who got bored to death.

For some, they need to know what it is all about before committing to watching with friends. For me, when I watch plays, I usually go clueless about what it is all about, so as to have no biases. I let the story unfold, appreciate the narrative and finish the show with an internal reflection of what it means to me.

Volunteering is both a selfless give-and-take act because you work for free to contribute to the community but in return, you discover yourself while your love tank is filled by the people you helped.

But these days, you have to be careful about which volunteer groups to join because some exploits the community they work with by making them dependent on volunteers instead of making the community better.

iVolunteer Philippines is the leading organization that connects volunteers to the rightful NGOs and communities for the last 10 years. Every year, they hold a GO! Volunteer Expo to showcase and meet the different volunteer groups. This is a great opportunity also for volunteers to look for where they can offer their skills to the group that would benefit the most.

This year, the GO! Volunteer Expo will happen at Glorietta Activity Center on April 6 & 7, 2019.

This time, iVolunteer Philippines is making it an even bigger event that will celebrate everyday Filipino heroes and the timeless act of giving back. iVolunteer believes that when given the opportunity, Filipinos are always willing to answer the call for help.

Gilarmi Cocktail Lounge, the lobby lounge of Discovery Primea, is one of the best hotel lounges in Manila.

Usually, hotel lounges are just token spots for guests to hang out in and not really places to come looking for quality. But we were surprised by how good the quality of the comfort food was paired with gin and tonic or cocktails.

I almost missed watching this show—Eto na! Musical nAPO!—and I’m glad that we were still able to catch the final extension of the second run (until April 7 only).

It was one of the best original Filipino musicals we watched that really touched us with its inspiring message of pursuing your passion against all odds and fighting for the love of your life.

Here’s what we love about Eto na! Musical nAPO!

Eto Na! Musikal nAPO!
Maybank Performing Arts Theater, Bonifacio Global CityLast Shows: April 5 at 8:00pm, April 6 at 2:30pm & 8:00pm, April 7 at 2.30pm
Synopsis: Set in a university in the 70s, Eto Na! Musikal nAPO! tells the coming-of-age of a ragtag of college friends as they gear up to win a songwriting competition. Through it all, they share triumphs, romantic bliss and heartbreak. All of this happens under the iron fist of Martial Law. What keeps them together is their sheer love for music and a friendship that stands the test of time and turmoil.

Bench Cafe is the “Love Local” Filipino Cafe of the Bench fashion house in partnership with Foodee Global Concepts. It specializes in Bench-to, a Filipino Bento version, and Halo-Halo plus merienda specialties.

Their flagship store is in Bonifacio High Street, and they recently opened their version 2.0 in Greenbelt 3. Here is the best of Bench Cafe in 2019.

Bench Cafe High Street

The Bench Cafe flagship store is hidden on the 2nd floor inside Bench High Street.

A Spanish-Italian Bistro by Anita Celdran, La Collina is hidden in Brgy. Poblacion area near Makati City Hall. It’s a slow food restaurant committed to sourcing fresh ingredients from nearby sustainable farms to produce Spanish food from the heritage recipes of the Celdran family and Italian cuisine from Anita’s Italian partner.

“Collina,” which means small hill both in Spanish and Italian, is a reference to the restaurant’s original hill location in Tagaytay before it found its way to a nice house along Molina St. in Brgy. Poblacion.

It’s awesome to discover these food-forward places to reinvigorate the dining scene in the otherwise bar-dominated neighborhood of Brgy. Poblacion. It feels like the first time you discovered Sala in the Malate neighborhood years ago.

We celebrated Valentine’s with our creative entrepreneur friends in the new restaurant of Chef Alain Raye of La Regalade Manila fame. There were mixed reviews when it opened towards the end of last year so we dined with optimistic caution.

Q&A stands for Question & Answers for the culinarily curious or Quality & Attention for the ones looking for Michelin-star taste and service in Manila. The 1 Michelin-starred Chef Alain Raye fell in love with a Filipina during his La Regalade days, and now he is permanently based here with the love of his life.